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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 Nov. - 1 Dec. 1999 Issue No. 457 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 Nov. - 1 Dec. 1999 Issue No. 457
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters The spirit of partnership
By Dina EzzatSecurity and stability in the Mediterranean seem to be getting greater attention from Egypt. Cairo's traditional involvement in efforts to stabilise the largely Arab southern Mediterranean is now being matched with an increasingly active interest in events taking place to the North. The main objective is to ensure that Egypt's views are not excluded from any security set-up evolving in the region.
In fact, security in the Mediterranean has been the subject of much official talk in the past few days. Only last week, Foreign Minister Amr Moussa participated in the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) summit, which took place in Istanbul. Egypt -- like seven other non-European states -- has an observer status in the OSCE. This week in Cairo, Moussa further deliberated on the subject with the visiting foreign ministers of Macedonia and Morocco and the German defence minister.
More than five years ago, in Helsinki, Egypt attended the conference that launched the process of security and cooperation in Europe. Then, and now, Egypt has been supportive of the concept of cooperative security in the Mediterranean. In essence, this concept is simple: Egypt wants a Mediterranean where the legitimate interests of all countries are respected and where conflicts are managed in accordance with international law.
Egypt wants a Middle East that is free of mass-destruction weapons; an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict with a comprehensive settlement that allows for a Palestinian state and the return of Arab occupied territories; and balanced economic and political relations among all the countries of the Mediterranean.
"We all support cooperative security, because we are mindful of the history-taught lesson that unilaterally attempting to achieve security, while overlooking or disregarding the legitimate interests and rights of others, is but a recipe for confrontation and conflict," said Moussa in an address to the OSCE summit. So, while Egypt is saying "yes" to cooperative security, it is also saying that this security should be based on a true spirit of partnership, with full respect for international law and the considerations of global security as well as cultural and social specificity.
Recent Mediterranean developments require a close look at the meaning of "cooperative security" for Egypt. To begin with, the US has been floating ideas about security in the Eastern Mediterranean. It appears that the US is hoping to see Israel, Turkey, Greece, Jordan and Egypt as the pillars of a new security arrangement to end the near hegemony of the European Union (EU) in the region.
This US scheme cannot be viewed without considering Turkey's ongoing ambiguous and high-profile military relations with Israel, to which Jordan sometimes appears to be a third party. Also of obvious relevance is Greece's recent tendency towards forging military relations with Israel. "We still have some serious question marks about what is going on there. Our questions have not been fully answered yet," said an Egyptian diplomat. He added: "We have always said that you start with one pact and then you get many more. Now, other countries in the region may be forging their own military affiliations."
The Bright Star manoeuvres, which have been conducted every other year since 1981, can only be seen as part of the US security plans for the Mediterranean. Indeed, in the wake of this year's manoeuvres, US Secretary of Defence William Cohen strongly suggested that Egypt should engage in military cooperation with Israel.
Foreign Minister Moussa was quick to react, saying that no permanent security arrangements for the region could be discussed away from the Middle East peace process. "We are for conflict prevention, conducted in strict observance of international law," Moussa told the OSCE.
Meanwhile, NATO has been expanding its scope of membership in Europe. Along with that, there has been much talk about the expansion of NATO's scope of action beyond the territorial borders of its member-states. This talk has opened the door for many questions about the rules that should govern such activities -- especially if they are to include the Middle East, where the US views several Arab states, such as Iraq and Libya, as "misbehaving".
Moreover, the Balkans -- despite all the promises of peace -- may, sooner or later, enter into a new phase of conflict. Egypt cannot, for example, discuss improving trade relations with Balkan countries -- as part of the Egyptian drive to increase its exports worldwide -- when the Balkans are involved in potentially non-stop wars.
"We believe that whatever happens to the southern Mediterranean is bound to have a bearing on the North, and the other way round," Moussa said. "Therefore, we should all work together to secure the stability of the Mediterranean."
Obviously, the situation in the southern Mediterranean is also suffering from some serious security ailments. The Middle East peace process, despite the hopes for progress associated with the government of Ehud Barak, is not making much headway. The devastating humanitarian situation in Iraq -- although not a Mediterranean country -- is serious enough to destabilise the area east of the Mediterranean, not to mention the many political disputes in African countries, such as the civil conflict in Sudan and its consequences. There is also the large economic gap between the poor South and the rich North.
In line with the strategic interlinks in the Mediterranean basin, an economic-political-cultural-security partnership was launched in 1995 under the name of the Barcelona process. But so far, the EU, the Arab states and Israel have failed to properly benefit from this framework. The reason is simple: complications in Middle East peacemaking.
And this is exactly the point that Egypt is always keen on stressing. Security and stability in the Mediterranean cannot be achieved without first settling the Arab-Israeli conflict.
